Capital crimes are: premeditated murder, torture, aggravated theft, treason and offences against the State. Niger has not imposed the death penalty since 1976.

In Niger, the death penalty is imposed only for the most serious crimes such as planned or premeditated murder, murder committed in furtherance of another offence, parricide or poisoning, torture, aggravated theft, treason and offences against the State. Niger has not imposed the death penalty since 1976.
Following over 40 years of independence, gained in 1960, Niger’s National Assembly adopted a new criminal code in May 2003. The new code introduced punishments of death for infringement of international humanitarian laws such as crimes against humanity, slavery, summary executions, deportation and torture.
The death penalty is also provided for in the code of military justice adopted in December 2002, which established a military court to deal with crimes of military nature. According to AI, the last death sentences were passed in July and August 1985, when 12 Tuaregs were arrested after an attack on Tchin Tabaraden police station sentenced to death by an emergency military court; seven of them had their sentence commuted to lifetime imprisonment by President Ali Saïbou in November 1987 and reduced to 30 years in July 1988.
The last executions were carried out on 21 April 1976, when seven military personnel and civilians – Commander Bayéré Moussa, Captain Sidi Mohamed, general secretary of the trade union confederation UNTN Armayaou Ibrah, Aboubacar Guy Tirolyen, Ahmed Mouddour, Idrissa Boubé and Issaka Dan Koussou – were sentenced to death by the State Security Court and executed by firing squad for their participation in the attempted coup d’état of March 1976. Two other people were sentenced to death in absentia by the State Security Court,but they were subsequently pardoned.
The last known death sentence was issued in 2008 (probably in absentia) but it was overturned in December 2010. At least five death sentences were issued in 2005, and at least one in 2003.
In February 2011, during the UN Human Rights Council UPR (Universal Periodic Review) process, Niger accepted the recommendations to introduce an official moratorium on the death penalty and to resubmit an abolition bill to the new Parliament once it was established, and to abolish all death sentences for persons under the age of 18. With regard to the recommendations to abolish the death penalty, Niger responded that the government had planned a public campaign in three stages in order to prepare the passage of an abolition law and the access to the Second Optional Protocol to the ICCPR. Stage 1 consisted in raising public awareness on death penalty issues among religious leaders, traditional chiefs, NGOs, political parties and state bodies. Stage 2 consisted in ensuring public support, and stage 3 involved submitting the abolition bill to a vote. Niger explained that the three stages had not yet been completed when the abolition bill had been presented to the Consultative Council in 2010, and that as a result opposition had been divided between those who thought a wider public debate was necessary before making any decision, and those who claimed that abolition did not concern Nigeriens and was the result of NGOs and IOs lobbying instead. However, the government noted that there was an abolitionist movement in Niger, and that Niger had ratified every other international human rights treaty. The government stated that it would have remained committed and engaged in the above-mentioned three-stage programme in order to successfully pass a law abolishing the death penalty.
On 7 April 2014, on the occasion of the celebration of the third anniversary of the investiture, on proposal of Minister of Justice Marou Amadou, the President of the Republic, Mahamadou Issoufou, issued a measure of clemency. Prisoners condemned to death had their sentences commuted to life imprisonment, while life sentences were commuted to 30 years. Recidivist prisoners were excluded by the measure of clemency.
On 23 October 2014, the Nigerien government approved a bill authorizing accession to the Second Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, aiming at the abolition of the death penalty. The bill was sent to the National Assembly for adoption.
On 20-21 November 2014, a delegation of Hands Off Cain and the Nonviolent Radical Party, Transnational and Transparty visited Niger on an advocacy mission to urge the country to change its position on the UN Resolution calling for a moratorium on the use of the death penalty. The delegation met with first vice-president of the National Assembly Daouda Marthé, Prime Minister Brigi Rafini and Minister of Justice and Government spokesperson Amadou Marou, who announced that Niger would have passed from a vote of abstention to a vote in favour of the pro-moratorium UN Resolution.
"The reasons for abolishing the death penalty are much more relevant than those to keep it," said Minister Marou, who added that "our agenda is the same as yours on both the respect for human rights and repeal of the death penalty. The President is personally committed to these goals." On 18 December 2014, for the first time, Niger voted in favour of the Resolution on a Moratorium on the Use of the Death Penalty at the UN General Assembly. Previously it had always abstained from voting